Phoenix Coyotes goalie Mike Smith gets nod as opening-night starter

PRESCOTT VALLEY - Mike Smith, who calls parts of his game "a work in progress," will be in goal when the Coyotes open the regular season Saturday night at San Jose.

Smith, who signed as a free agent in the off-season, turned in an excellent effort in preseason finale Saturday night, a 3-1 victory against the Sharks, making 28 saves and handling rebounds well.

Coach Dave Tippett gave him the nod over Jason LaBarbera, who also is having a good camp.

"Definitely a good way to end preseason," Smith said. "I felt pretty good most of camp. I think it was the best game of preseason by far, and we have everyone going, and we were getting pucks behind their defense.

"You know, it's a good thing going into the regular season coming off a win like this, and all of the guys worked really hard, and that showed in the final score."

Tippett liked the team's overall performance, and with five days to get ready for the season opener - including practices Monday and Tuesday at Tim's Toyota Center - he hopes to shore up some of the weaker areas.

"We have an extra day to work on a few things, but it's good to see that we can play a fairly solid game, which is the kind of team we're going to have to be," he said.

Team bonding

Tippett and the players, who arrived here Sunday, are looking forward to the two days of team bonding and practices.

"You get down in numbers, training camp gets to be a long situation," he said. " . . . You get away for a couple of days, you concentrate on hockey, and we'll have a couple of team-building activities. We'll have a couple of good practices."

General Manager Don Maloney and Assistant General Manager Brad Treliving came up with the idea of the Prescott Valley practices. Last year, the Coyotes were in Prague for a week, where they began the season with two games against the Boston Bruins.

"We have a week off (from games), and they haven't done it here before," Maloney said. "A lot of teams do it; it kind of gets everybody tighter for a couple of days, and (they) start dialing in for the start of the season.

"It seemed to make a lot of sense given the break we have to go up there where they have a beautiful facility, and I'm looking forward to it."

Ice chip

Teams have to cut rosters to the 23-player limit by Wednesday, and Tippett said deciding which three players go to the AHL will not be easy.

"I think there's some decisions on players in the lineup for Game 1 that we'll have to work through this week, but I think we have a pretty good idea where we want to be," he said.